


Sad Edelgard Society

by stillinbeta



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, kind of, this fic is very silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:34:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25202515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillinbeta/pseuds/stillinbeta
Summary: Ruined a perfectly good Edelgard, is what you did. Look at her, she has trauma.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 3
Kudos: 67





	Sad Edelgard Society

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seasparks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seasparks/gifts).



“I wanted… to walk with you.”

Edelgard knew this was the end of the line. Her guard was in tatters, most of her frie- her allies slain. And now here was her Teacher, her dearest Byleth, ready to finish the job that damned Rhea had started. 

She’d never let herself believe that Byleth would join her cause. But deep down, she’d always hoped she could sway the Ashen Demon. Her cause, her allies, and maybe, just maybe, Edelgard herself would show Byleth the mockery of justice Rhea and Claude represented. 

Now, the only thing left to hope for was a swift end. The Sword of the Creator was raised above her head, and it seemed like she might find that one last mercy. The sword swung down, and everything went white. 

* * *

“Oh, you poor thing. Let’s get you out of here.”

Edelgard blinked in confusion. The palace and Byleth had disappeared. In fact, almost everything was absent. A white void stretched off in all directions, broken up only a green-haired girl with a sympathetic expression on her face. 

“Who… who are you?” Edelgard asked weakly. 

“Oh good, you’re awake,” the girl replied. “You can call me Sothis.”

“You... you’re...”

It seemed she would not find mercy, even in death. If she’d attracted the attention of the Goddess herself, then surely there must be many more lifetimes of suffering in store for her. Secretly she had hoped there was no afterlife, but after so many gambles failed to pay off, why should this one be any different?

Her resolve was not infinite, she knew, but it was not spent yet. If the Goddesses desired surrender or capitulation, they would need to pry it from her. And they would find Edelgard von Hresvelg was not easily bent.

She looked with determination toward her captor.

“I will not apologise for my actions. Goddess or not, Rhea was the enemy of all of Fódlan, twisting faith into a horrible tool of subjugation and fear. She needed to be taken down.”

Her head held in defiance, Edelgard expected Sothis’s retribution to be swift. But the Goddess just gave her a bemused smile.

“You’re still fighty! I like that. Do not worry about my horrid daughter. She’s a real jerk in your timeline and deserves far worse than what you did to her.”

“My… timeline?”

“Don’t worry about that right now. Come on, I bet you could use a shower.”

Edelgard blinked and the scene had changed. The white void was replaced by the interior of a small cottage that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Adrestia. That is, except for the large black rectangle hanging on the wall. It looked like a mirror of some kind, but it was a poor one. She couldn’t see herself at all. 

There was no sign of Sothis either. Edelgard wasn’t sure what rain had to do with the confusing statements about time, and that question would apparently go unanswered. But left alone, she suddenly realized how absolutely filthy she was. That, at least, was a problem she could solve. 

The bathroom was even more confusing than Sothis. There seemed to be more basins than was possible, all tucked into their own little alcoves. All of them had shiny metal protrusions, and none of them had carafes for filling with water. How was one supposed to bathe without water?

Undeterred, she set about unravelling the room’s secrets. She was the finest tactical mind of her generation (at least according to her vassal), she would not be defeated by a washbasin. That was Byleth’s... 

Best not to dwell on that. A few experimentations with the metal fixtures showed they all caused water to be dispensed in some capacity. One of them was quite loud, and she let out a most unladylike yelp at the loud “FLUSHHHHHH.”

But miraculously, one of the protrusions on the tub caused hot water to be dispensed directly into the basin. It was far from the weirdest thing that had happened to her today, though, so she got into the tub for a good soak. A bath had always helped clear her head back when... well it had always helped before. As she washed the grime from her body, she felt an odd sense of peace wash over her. Whatever happened would happen, but at least she’d be clean for it.

The battle dress she’d been wearing was a lost cause, but she found some lounge wear in a closet. Somehow it fit perfectly, as if she’d picked it out herself. It was much softer than anything she’d had back at Garreg Mach. And it even managed to hide most of the scars.

The chaise in the parlour looked incredibly comfortable, but it wasn’t until she sat down that she realised just how exhausted she was. And after a lifetime of sleeping with at least one eye open, well, she was already dead, wasn’t she? Did the dead need to sleep? This one certainly did, it seemed. Before she could even consider her situation, her eyes were already shut. 

* * *

If she had any dreams, she couldn’t remember them. But she woke up to a gentle sunrise, feeling better rested than she could ever remember being. She made a mental note to ask Hubert to… 

Ah. Nevermind. 

Hopefully wherever her vassal ended up, he was happy. If her personal afterlife was any indication, he almost certainly was. 

Her reverie was interrupted by a knock on the door and she was immediately wide awake. When her dagger couldn’t be located on her bedside table, she summoned a ball of fire in her palm. Creeping stealthily toward the door, she prepared to throw it open, blowing it off its hinges if necessary. 

The door opened of its own accord, and an unimpressed Sothis stood on the other side. 

“Oh, put that thing out. This place is still flammable, you know.”

Thus chastised, Edelgard extinguished her magic and let Sothis inside. 

“Oh good, you found the bath,” she said dryly. 

“Yes, thank you.” Edelgard automatically went into “Noble Mode.” She didn’t know where she was, whether this was Heaven or Hell, but she was used to being polite to captors. “I admit the afterlife is not quite how I expected it.”

“Oh, you’re not dead. Not really.”

“Not… really?” 

“We just sort of… plucked you out of your timestream at an opportune moment.” 

Sothis had opened a cupboard, and set about making two cups of tea. Bergamot, she couldn’t help but notice. 

“What do you mean by timestream?”

“I could explain, but it’ll be easier if we just get you a partner. Here.”

Sothis tossed Edelgard a black rectangle, with the same mirror finish as the one on the wall. She looked down at it suspiciously.

“Button on top,” Sothis called. 

Sure enough, there was a small protrusion on the top of the object. It flashed to life, bright enough that it almost fell out of her hands.

“Please don’t drop it,” Sothis called without looking up. “Those things don’t grow on trees, you know!”

“Is it… magic?”

“May as well be. Swipe on it with your finger. The matcher app should already be open.”

Edelgard had absolutely no idea what an “app” was, but as she dragged her finger across the glass the rectangles beneath it moved around. They were pictures of women. 

She swiped a few more times. Not women. They were all one particular woman.

Perhaps this was hell after all.

“Sothis?”

“Yes?”

“These are all… Byleth.”

“Observant as always, your Highness.” Sothis returned with two mugs of now steaming hot tea. “See anyone you like?”

“But… they’re all Byleth.”

“I’ve got some Mercedeses and Dorotheas too, if you prefer. But you seemed quite attached to your teacher.”

In spite of herself, and in spite of the profoundly confusing situation she found herself in, Edelgard blushed. 

“That’s… that’s ridiculous. And anyway, in case you’ve forgotten where you found me, Byl- that woman tried to kill me.”

“Of course. But none of these ones tried to kill you. That was in your own timeline. These Byleths are all quite interested in meeting you.”

“I… don’t understand.”

“Fine. I shall give you the CliffsNotes.”

“The what notes—”

“There are an infinite number of universes. In some of them, Byleth joins you on your quest. In some she betrays you. In a couple you play card games together, and in one particularly spicy one—”

“Hold on. Assuming I believe all of this, which I don’t, the math doesn’t add up. If she betrays me in some, how can you find enough Byleths for every me?”

“Because there’s not  _ a lot _ of universes. There’s an  _ infinite _ number. Caspar explained it to me at one point.”

“ _ Caspar? _ ”

“Like I said, there’s a lot of universes.”

“…”

“Anyway, we haven’t run out of Byleths yet. See any you like?”

“I… I’ll look.”

“Take your time. And do not forget about your tea.”

The tea was grounding. Nothing in this world made any sense to her, but her favourite tea was the same. She clung to the mug like an outcropping on a cliff, trying to steady herself.

Eventually, though, the mug was empty, and she had to turn her attention back to the procession of Professors laid out before her. 

Though initially they all looked the same, a discerning eye would start to pick out differences. And when it came to the Professor, there were few more acute than she. Some lacked the scars that marred her Byleth’s face. A few wore curious spectacles. Some appeared to be a different gender altogether! And that was to say nothing about the variety of hairstyles and garb that adorned them.

The biographies were slightly more illuminating, though there were certainly a number of similarities. Pretty much everyone had some interest in fishing. Most of them were soldiers. And almost all of them either taught or wished to. 

She was flicking through a list when suddenly, someone caught her eye. She couldn’t be absolutely certain — they were all so similar! — but there was just something about the eyes. 

“Interesting,” Sothis said. 

At some point, the girl had started looking over her shoulder. Edelgard flushed, but strengthened her resolve. 

“I want her.”

“You’re certain?” 

“I… I am.”

“Very well. I wish you the best of luck.”

Sothis snapped her fingers, and once again everything went white.

* * *

Edelgard was in the palace, crouching on the cold stone floor. She looked up at her teacher, her dearest friend, with the Sword of the Creator drawn.

Byleth blinked, then sheathed the sword and extended her hand. 

Edelgard took it gratefully. It seemed, perhaps, that she had finally made a correct decision. 

For a moment, neither of them spoke. And then both at once.

“El—”

“My teacher—”

Byleth smiled, and gestured for Edelgard to continue.

“My teacher I… It had to be you. It’s always been you.”

Byleth just smiled, and moved to embrace her. Their first kiss tasted of mud and iron, but neither of them even noticed.

**Author's Note:**

> I have never played this video game.


End file.
